Dha-viath
by CuriousNumber5
Summary: Dha-viath, raised amongst Yautja from childhood, encounters humans for the first time in nearly two decades. Driven by the urge to hunt she faces a choice and subsequently, the consequences wrought. Her life changes irrevocably as perceptions and prejudices on all sides must change. The lines between enemy and ally blur as Dha-viath evaluates her misconceptions.
1. Chapter 1

UPDATED 3/4/19

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The humid air hung heavily; cloying and hot, and despite the adequate oxygen content, it was almost difficult to breathe. This jungle's trees seemed to grow taller and closer together than others, the upper branches knitting together in a tight canopy that allowed few bright beams of light through. It was eerily quiet for such a place, even the air was still. The wildlife was bracing itself, watching and waiting…there were intruders here.

On a thick branch, high above the jungle floor, crouched Dha-viath. She was as comfortable in the trees as she was on flat ground, and she was _not_ the intruder causing alarm for the living things of this place. She was a hunter, she knew how to perfectly merge with her surroundings, to become a welcome part of it.

Sweat beaded on her skin and a drop trickled down between her breasts. The cooling module of her thermal mesh still needed retooling, but she was in no danger of overheating. She switched the vision mode of her mask to infrared, leaning out a little to peer beyond her tree. There was noise in the distance, the telltale rustling and stomping of things unsuccessfully attempting to be stealthy. They may as well have marched in beating war drums for all the good their effort was.

Dha-viath dropped to a slightly lower branch without a sound then moved to another on the opposite side of the tree to get a better look. Below, still far away, the tall undergrowth was moving unnaturally before those responsible began to emerge. Bipedal, sentient, armed, technologically advanced…sort of. She knew what they were, and couldn't stop the scowl that twisted her lips.

It had been a very long time since last she encountered that species, a species she had come to loathe. _Humans_. There were only four, and as they continued to move in her direction, she could already smell them, a rank odor of sweat and fear…but not terror, not yet. They struggled with the dense vegetation, almost all the terrain of this planet was very unforgiving. They were soldiers of some variety, their purpose unclear, and though Dha-viath supposed they were trained to find their way around unfamiliar territory, they seemed to be struggling. They were breathing heavily as sweat poured down their faces. The temperature measurements in her view screen indicated that at least one of them was at risk for a hyperthermal episode and two were likely approaching dehydration.

Dha-viath ran a remote scan from the ship, analyzing the current surface quadrant and the results appeared on her satcom. Glancing at it, she noted a ship not far off with several more humans in and around it, setting up probably a camp. With the touch of a button a different dataset appeared on screen, measuring all non-organic planetary activity and it gave an intentional, calculated descent path for the human vessel. They'd come here on purpose and were not stranded, which meant it was also likely there was a bigger ship, not unlike her own, waiting in orbit teeming with more of them.

The pack of humans continued along, unaware they were being watched. Dha-viath's concept and perception of time had changed greatly since she had been discovered by the Yautja. Offhand, she didn't know how long it had been since then, and could only guess that many Terran years had passed. There was no love lost between her and the people she had come from; it had been so long that they were strange and unfamiliar. Whatever humanity had survived in her small, broken body back then, had been purged long ago.

Dha-viath defied expectations and limitations as she was trained; defiance was something she excelled at. What had begun as an experiment for Yautja amusement had turned into a lesson on even a frail creature's will to live. She'd come so far and become something so much more than she would have ever imagined for herself. Through blood, she had earned her place amongst the Yautja…amongst the hunters. She was proud and had earned her honor.

A strange, unpleasant feeling rose in the back of her throat like bile. _Bitterness_. It was a long-dormant emotion, along with resentment, but it felt fresh and raw as she looked at them fumbling through the jungle. Her memories from _before_ were no longer relevant and had been pushed aside; the lens through which she looked at this species was now that of the Yautja. Their perception of the _Terrans_ was not a particularly generous one. While humans periodically produced individuals who possessed the strength, intelligence, and skill to be interesting prey, as a people they were thought of as an infection. They poisoned the worlds they settled on and multiplied, growing like a cancer in the galaxy. They solved problems by creating new, more terrible ones and the majority of intelligent species simply avoided them.

Human skulls had been in several of the collections Dha-viath had been given the privilege of viewing. It gave her an itch that was overwhelmingly tempting to scratch, so she moved closer to do a better analysis.

The pack had four specimens, though more were not far off. There were three males and a female; overall, they were of a similar age and mobility, equipped, in Dha-viath's opinion, to deal only with minor threats. The leader, however, exhibited more advanced features of age, the hair on his head and face was gray, but he seemed biologically and physically better prepared to handle possible enemies. Dha-viath had no doubt that he was the more worthy amongst them considering that warriors did not reach advanced age without being adept when pursuing enemies or prey. If there was a worthy trophy amongst them, it was likely to be the leader.

There was always a marked difference between skill acquired through training and skill acquired through experience. Dha-viath would have never reached the level she had were it not for her many very close brushes with death. The leader of this small group was experienced, his subordinates were only trained, and it showed.

On closer inspection of the humans' gear, she surmised that they were hunting for food and though begrudgingly, she admitted that this area was a good source of meat. The leader had become _her_ prey and she watched him very closely, moving down further, even daring to crouch in undergrowth mere meters away as they passed.

He reacted to nothing, but still seemed aware of every noise, every rustle that was not made by him or the others. Dha-viath moved along the ground for some time, undetected, until she watched her prey begin scanning the brush more intently. He knew there was something nearby, his heartrate had increased, and his body tensed for a fight. Perhaps he really _was_ worthy prey.

Foolishly, the group split in half, their paths diverging, which served only to make it easier for her to isolate her prey, to eliminate the possibility of him having outside help when she would finally strike. She wanted to see the human fight on his own, she wanted him to be difficult to kill alone. Otherwise, what was the point?

Their language was familiar, of course, and Dha-viath tried to ignore it, tried to find no meaning in any of the words but still some she knew even after all the time that had passed. It sounded strange nevertheless, garbled and primitive. Though it had taken her a long time, she had mastered the Yautja language, finding ways to make all the right sounds, clicks, and growls with her human mouth. Even in her mind she no longer thought with human language.

The pair without her prey in it seemed far less confident the moment they no longer had their leader. Dha-viath switched to a normal vision mode and the sharp scent of the humans' fear increased as every noise served to unnerve them further. One male crouched, looking at a print in the mud and Dha-viath struck like lightning, pulling the other one silently into the brush, and striking him hard on the head. While unconscious, she wrapped a cord around his feet and hoisted him into a tree…alive, but no longer a threat. His weapons were all piled on the ground beneath him.

The second male stood back up and turned, finding himself alone and she grinned to herself, amused by the confusion on his face. When he turned around again, calling out for the missing individual, she struck again, and he joined his comrade in the tree. Quickly, Dha-viath headed for the final two, the female and her prey.

There was a sudden yelp as she happened upon the female sitting very still in high grass, relieving herself. All she saw was a blur as the cloaking bent the light around Dha-viath who struck the female hard in the face as she stood, pulling up her pants. In a couple moments, she was disarmed and strung up. All that remained was the actual prey, the one she wanted a trophy from. It would have been simple enough to kill the other three, but there was no honor in it, no enjoyment even; they would have been easy, meaningless deaths.

Whether or not Dha-viath's companion, Nracha-dte, was watching any of what she was doing, she did not know and did not particularly care. For as skilled as she was in stealth, he was Yautja and a veteran with more experience than even most other Yautja. If he did not wish to be detected, even she would not be able to find him. Nracha-dte was an elite hunter, warrior, and leader; he was also the one who had pulled her, a nearly-mangled human girl, from a small pressurized compartment in the remains of a terrible transport wreck. His scientific prowess combined with the advanced Yautja medical technology had saved her from the wounds that would have otherwise been fatal.

Dha-viath had him to thank for the life she now lived and and she served him loyally as a statistician and hunting companion. She supposed he might have gone off on his own, she was well beyond being allowed to hunt unaccompanied. She had been blooded _many_ seasons before and was trusted, honorable, and in possession of a trophy collection that rivaled many of her peers.

Her human prey spotted his own quarry and wasn't waiting for his team member to return, it would risk the opportunity if he did. Dha-viath scaled a tree and watched as he did indeed move silently, approaching the creature from behind. It was a meaty quadruped that looked far less dangerous than it was, she knew its mate could not be far off either. He raised his rifle and paused, growing still, waiting as it grazed on the small green twigs and shoots near the ground. Its head lifted and he took the shot, making a clean kill. It was fairly decent marksmanship from as far away as he was from the beast.

The human glanced behind him, still no sign of his group, but didn't pay it much mind in that moment before he moved toward his kill. He pulled out a large knife to give it a quick field dressing and Dha-viath studied him and his attire while he worked. He wore tactical gear, a vest with many pockets, a utility belt that held the sheath for his knife as well as a holder for a pistol, the rifle was on the ground. His arms were bare, he wore somewhat less than the others and wasn't the one nearly overheating.

He looked strong, for a human at least; she was accustomed to her own people, who were the very definition of strength and power. Dha-viath dropped from the tree, landing behind him in a crouch. Hearing both the impact and the movement of the brush, he leapt to his feet and whirled around. She was cloaked, and for a brief moment, in confusion, his eyes darted to every movement.

Slowly, she stood and it was clear he could see her blurred silhouette as the light bent around her. His hand moved to the pistol on his hip and Dha-viath uncloaked. He froze, shock spreading across his features. She saw then his eyes were blue and tilted her head slightly to one side, regarding him, planning her attack, and taking stock of what weapons he had available.

"What the hell are you?" He murmured, half to himself.

The biomask completely obscured her face, there was no way for him to identify her as human or anything else. She said nothing and with a swift, effortless motion, kicked the pistol from his hand, leaving him just the knife. She heard her own blood rushing, the need to hunt rising up inside her like the tide.


	2. Chapter 2

The sensation of being hunted was a very specific, very unnerving experience, one which many would not be able to identify. Owen Baines had been in the crosshairs of something unseen on a strange planet before. It was unmistakable, but his team had no idea, they were still very green. Now he was alone, no sign of the other three, who were probably dead, and he was faced with what seemed at first to be a strange specter until she uncloaked. It _was_ certainly a she, judging by his own humanoid standards for secondary sex characteristics.

The alien was armored, clad in a metal chest plate shaped to her form, with spaulders to match. The technology was advanced, her arms were covered in gauntlets from the elbow down with clawed gloves; one side had retractable blades that glinted dangerously in the light, the other was some sort of device. Though she held no weapons in hand, there was a small energy cannon perched ominously on her shoulder, aiming for his chest. Across her hips was a tattered leather loincloth beneath a heavy belt and armor plates on her hips and one covering her groin. Her feet and shins were protected by knee-high armored boots that, like the rest of the plate, had an intricate design to them. She was armed to the teeth, a bladed whip on one hip, a knife on the other and what was plainly a sword in a scabbard. The sword seemed oddly primitive to carry when there was tech like the shoulder cannon at her disposal.

Her exposed skin was covered in a familiar netting but what had truly filled Baines with icy dread, was the helmet she wore. He had seen one just like it many years before. It covered her face completely with screened, angled eyes he couldn't see through. The laser sight to one side of the helm was also aimed, visible with three bright red laser dots. The mask sloped back over her head, upward and from under it, waist-length, ropelike braids hung, adorned with various metallic beads. Beneath the mesh, her skin was marked with some symbols and designs in black ink. They curled down her side, disappearing beneath her belt and reappearing below on her hip and thigh.

She was a smaller, female version of the most terrifying creature Baines had ever had the misfortune of encountering. He remembered vividly the eight-foot-tall monster in a helmet just like the one he now stared into. It had taken seven of his men to barely wound the creature after it had killed two soldiers. If the individual he currently faced was anything like the rest of her people, smaller or not, he was in a lot of trouble.

He didn't dare shift his gaze to the gun she had kicked from his hand, or where the rifle lay less than a meter from his feet. She moved easily and unhindered, smooth and agile as though the metal plate of her armor weighed nothing at all. The kind of strength and control that took was frightening to contemplate and nearly paralyzing to behold. Despite the grace with which she moved, he knew he was watching a savage, bipedal animal stare at prey.

Something was off, though. The image of the masked monster from years ago was burned into his mind and aside from being so much smaller, she was unlike the one of his memory. She did not possess the mottled, reptilian skin, instead she was pale and smooth. It didn't fit, his mind couldn't let it go despite the fact he had much more important things to be concerned with at that moment.

"What do you want?" Baines asked, disregarding the futility of the question. She tilted her head to the other side, taking a step back, ready to pounce. She was going to fight him…or kill him. "Is my team dead?" She was silent and still, and it unnerved him.

The laser sight shut off and the plasmacaster retracted backward into an inactive state. Baines almost felt relief but was startled by a noise to his left. Branches cracked and there was the thundering sound of feet impacting earth. The mate of the animal he'd killed burst out from the underbrush, a shower of leaves and twigs raining down. He dropped down as the creature soared over him, intent on goring him. Watching as though the world slowed around him, Baines saw the alien had her whip in hand. With what appeared an effortless movement, she'd wrapped the blades around the animal's neck. Giving it a hard tug, the whip severed its head, like a vicious sawblade, before it had even hit the ground. Another flick of her wrist and the weapon was coiled neatly, back in its place on her hip, the animal's dark blood still dripping from it.

His attention flicked to the dead animal and the fraction of a second his eyes left the alien, she took the opportunity to attack. Her arm swung downward, knife in hand and Baines blocked and shoved her, quickly getting to his feet. Hesitation would get him killed and he immediately lunged, slashing with his own knife. The alien was faster, though, and dodged his attempts easily. Feet planted, she struck him in the chest with her fist, knocking him backward with unexpected force, the air leaving his lungs as he landed on his back.

Baines got to his feet and tackled his opponent, knocking them both to the ground. She was smaller than him but her strength and skill were beyond his expectation, and more advanced than anyone he'd come up against or seen in the past. She easily rolled him onto his back, aiming a blow for his face that he narrowly dodged. He bucked her off and she rolled neatly to her feet, crouched and ready. Her knife lay on the ground but that made her no less dangerous. Unwisely, Baines decided to go for his pistol which now lay at his feet. By the time it was in his hands and he was up, the alien tore it from his grip and threw it, then grabbed him and with a hip toss, he was on his back in the dirt once more. With her heavy boot on his chest and wrist blades extended and pointing down at him, he made no move.

The dust was beginning to settle around them, the evidence of the scuffle strewn about. Baines' chest heaved as he panted, wondering if this was it, if these were his last breaths. The alien raised her arm, his eyes glued to the blades as his heart threatened to beat its way through the wall of his chest. As she moved to strike there was a huge impact in the dirt to his right, startling them both. The alien was pulled back by an unseen force and after blinking a couple times, Baines spotted the blur of the cloaking she'd used earlier, only now it was on a different alien. There were two of them, the situation had _not_ improved in his favor.

The newcomer uncloaked, definitely a male, and he was enormous. Similar to the one Baines had seen in the past, this one had the reptilian skin and sheer size he expected. Its armor was minimal though, shin and thigh guards, forearm gauntlets that didn't cover his hands, a small chest plate that covered only the left side, a plate on the left shoulder and the telltale helmet of their kind. He wore similar netting as the female on his torso, but aside from a leather loincloth with a protective plate in the front, he was mostly unprotected. Baines wondered if less armor meant more skill and he felt his chances of survival slipping further away.

The attention was no longer on him, but he didn't dare move, knowing that it would take nothing on their part to fire one of those energy cannons and catch him in the back. He observed the exchange between the aliens as they seemed to be disagreeing. Baines' earlier feelings about his attacker's physiology arose again, listening to her voice, somewhat distorted by the helm, as she spoke heatedly. The male replied, the language the same but even more guttural and animalistic. The female suddenly made a frustrated, human-sounding noise and chattered back before sighing, relenting to whatever demands her companion had made. He made another comment and she snorted then retracted her blades and spoke again, this time gesturing to Baines. The male gave a nod and Baines' insides froze. What was the alien nodding at? What had he agreed to?

The huge, predatory alien grabbed a spear from his back and extended its blades, pointing one end at Baines' throat. He didn't move or strike, and it seemed he was merely standing guard as the female crouched down. The only thing Baines would move was his eyes, looking from the male to the female crouched beside him and then back at the spear. She was obviously inspecting him, grabbing him by the chin and turning his face to either side before he jerked out of her grip. She gave a snort and began emptying each of the pouches on his tactical vest, tossing the items and supplies down once deemed unimportant. Over her shoulder she said something in what he could imagine only to be a derisive tone to the other, giving his belt buckle a tug.

"Hey!" He snapped and she let go, making an amused sound. The male commented and Baines felt very much like a plaything…helpless and unable to get away. Were they so cruel that they tortured their kills before ending it?

She leaned over him then, her mask directly over his face and she seemed to inhale his scent. He flinched when she braced one hand on his shoulder and slowly unzipped his vest with the other. He couldn't fathom what the point of all this was, as she peeled the vest back, exposing his bare chest. She wanted something…a trophy perhaps, and she reached forward, clawed fingers snatching at his neck. His dog tags.

"What do you…?" He started to snarl but the male made a more vicious noise, the blade of the spear touching Baine's throat, scratching just enough to draw blood. The female tugged the tags and the chain snapped. She sat back a little, turning them over in her hand.

" _Commander_ Owen Baines _._ " Came a heavily accented, mechanical voice from her mask. Whatever she was, she could read English.

"Who are you?" He breathed, just staring while she stuffed his tags into a pouch and stood back up. Baines could have sworn she was human, it didn't make any sense. She stepped up close to the male, chattering something at him, staring straight up to look him in the eye as she came only to his chest. She knocked on the plate on one of his thighs and glanced down again at Baines. The male replied before they cloaked and their blurry shapes disappeared into the trees.

Confused, and suddenly shaking, aware of how very close he had been to death, Baines sat up, his mind racing. He thought at first she had taken his tags to perhaps finish what she started at a later date, but it didn't explain why she'd been stopped in the first place. She was more than willing to kill him, and nearly had, but the male had interrupted. _Why?_

It struck him suddenly that his crew might have been killed either by her or her companion and Baines scrambled to his feet, gathering his weapons and running back the way he'd come. He found Whitman as she was struggling, strung up by her feet in a tree. She had a massive bruise covering one side of her face but other than that she was unharmed.

"What the hell happened?" He asked.

"Do I look like I know?!" She snapped angrily. "I was taking a piss and some blurry shit came out of nowhere and hit me." Baines untied the cord and Whitman hit the ground, giving a grunt before pushing herself up and getting to her feet. There was shouting in the distance and it didn't take long to find Blake and Moran strung up the same way.

"She strung the lot of you up and tried to kill me." Baines told them.

"She? Did you kill her?" Blake asked, rubbing his neck.

"No, she was interrupted and they left." He let out an irritated breath. "She took my tags."

"So she'll be back." Moran glowered.

"More than likely." Baines replied.


	3. UPDATE IN PROCESS :)

3/3/19 - After neglecting this for way...WAY too long, I've decided I'm going to give it the polish and shine it deserves. There will be expansion, updating, elaboration, etc. I really love writing this story and I'm glad to return to it. Thank you to those who have read it. I will re-post the chapters as I go through the editing process. I appreciate all thoughts, and your patience as I go along.


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